I love inspirational quotes. I see reflected in the wise words of great minds validation of who I am and motivation to be who I want to become.

For many years now, I have shared some of my favourite quotes and trivia in my newsletter – Gary’s Monthly Gems. Enjoy.

October Quotes and Trivia - Gary's Monthly Gems

Welcome, October!

What do Bill Gates, Alfred Nobel (of the Nobel Peace Prize fame), Mahatma Gandhi and Christopher Columbus all have in common besides being men of great accomplishments?

They were all born in October.

October also marks Columbus Day in the U.S. The holiday commemorates his discovery of the Americas on October 21st, 1492. It is also believed that he was born sometime before October 31st, 1451.

October happens to be a month of many milestone discoveries but one, in particular, is crazy important to anyone working in the Call Centre industry.

October marks the first telephone conversation (between Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson) through outdoor telegraph lines linking Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts.

That call was effectively the nail in the coffin of telegraph service and the beginning of telephone service as we would know it ever since.

Since October seems to be a popular month for discoveries, who knows what October 2018 will bring?

Until we find out, here are a few October GEMS for you to discover!

Enjoy!

Ego says: “Once everything falls into place, I will have peace.” Spirit says: “Find your peace, and then everything will fall into place. - Marianne WilliamsonClick To Tweet

Time won’t make you forget, it’ll make you grow and understand things. - Author UnknownClick To Tweet

It’s not what you say to everyone else that determines your life: it’s what you whisper to yourself that has the greatest power. - Robert T. KiyosakiClick To Tweet

Note to self: You are not too old and it’s not too late. - George ElliotClick To Tweet

Living a positive life means waking up every day and deciding that today will be good and that anything bad will be dealt with as it comes. - Author UnknownClick To Tweet

The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less. - SocratesClick To Tweet

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. - Alan KayClick To Tweet

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. - Henry Stanley HaskinsClick To Tweet

What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say. - Ralph Waldo EmersonClick To Tweet

Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. - Winston ChurchillClick To Tweet

You must have long-term goals to keep you from being frustrated by short-term failures. - Charles C. NobleClick To Tweet

Goals are dreams with a deadline. - Diana Scharf HuntClick To Tweet

You are not your resume, you are your book. - Seth GodinClick To Tweet

People who are unable to motivate themselves must be content with mediocrity, no matter how impressive their other talents. - Andrew CarnegieClick To Tweet

I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity. - Oprah WinfreyClick To Tweet

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. - Chinese ProverbClick To Tweet

And the thought I’d like to leave you with this month is:

As a young man, I never understood George Bernard Shaw’s quote...

“Youth is wasted on the young”.

What could that mean? How can you waste your age? I could understand the concept of “wasting your life”, but your ‘youth’?

Then one day while complaining about lost opportunities, it hit me.

Youth was a gift – with an expiry date. It wasn’t just a random hour on our timeline, it was a state of being – a safe place to explore, to question, and to rebel.

It was a moment that once gone, could only be revived as a ghost.

Like so many of the young, I was naïve. I thought I could plan my future in every detail from A to B. But life was to show me who was the boss.

This leads us to another quote from writer, Allen Saunders. (published it in a1957 Reader’s Digest.)